Strawberry Gashes
by DreamsMadeFlesh
Summary: There's something wrong with Blaise Zabini, and childhood friend Draco Malfoy is determined to find out what.. but sometimes the truth is more painful than a lie. (no OCs, all slytherin.. enjoy)


A/N: a completely canon fic! And a songfic, at that! From ME! woa, there's a first.. no, I lied, a second... anyone getting a sense of deja vu? Inspired by the song of the same name by Jack off Jill.. terribly wonderful name for an apparently awesome band/singer/group thing, not that I would know, as all I have is two songs...  
  
Anyway, thanks to Courtney for hooking me up with the song, Linny, my little smutbunny, and of course, my muse, Moof. (anyone seeking a further explaination, contact me, as the story of Moof is too long to put here, and 99% of you won't care, anyway.)  
  
"Turn her over  
  
A candle is lit, I see through her  
  
Blow it out and save all her ashes for me..."  
  
"Blaise, are you okay?"  
  
All she heard lately, from everyone. Blaise Zambini turned, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder with a cold arrogance, as though to ask who dared to bother her now. "I told you, Draco, I'm fine."  
  
"Don't lie to me, Blaise, I've known you since we were too little to talk," Draco said softly. He could see the slightest shift in the back of her shoulders just before she turned to face him, and he inwardly sighed with relief. Finally, he'd gained an inch in the uphill battle to get her to talk to him.  
  
"Look, Draco, I'm fine, really. I'm just a bit stressed. All I need is a little Dreamless Sleep and a chance to catch up on things. Seeing as it's friday, it should be easy to get the down time, but the Dreamless Sleep.. well, you know how Professor Snape is about giving it to minors.." Blaise gave Draco a hopeful look, and he sighed.  
  
"Alright, I'll see what I can do," he forefitted. "You get to bed. If I can get you any, I'll bring it to you. In the meantime, try for some normal sleep, okay?"  
  
"Yes, mom," she smiled teasingly, giving him a kiss on the cheek and heading down the stairs to the girls dorms. Sighing, Draco wondered what he'd gotten himself into for a moment or two, before the image of her normally flawless face, marred with dark circles under her eyes, the pink glow to her face having abandoned her, leaving her a sickly shade of ivory, the only pink to be seen being her lipstick - which seemed out of place with her change of complexion, and the whites of her eyes, which looked like she was forever rubbing them in some vain effort to stay awake. Muttering to himself about the many bothersome aspects of having a girl as a close friend, Draco left the Slytherin common room, heading down to Snape's classroom.  
  
Not seeing Snape (and being a Slytherin, after all), Draco poked around the corners of the classroom, as though unsure of what might be watching him. Once he was sure nothing was going to spring out and attack, Draco took one last glance out into the hallway and shut the door before softly giving the password to unlock Snape's potion's closet. Thanking all that was for his uncanny ability to remember the passwords to every room he wasn't supposed to be in, Draco snatched a bottle of Dreamless Sleep - which Snape kept in quantities that Draco might have found suspiscious had he been under any circumstances that allowed him to stop and examine the contents of the closet - and pocketed it, heading back out into the hall, only to hear the rythmic tapping of shoes on stone that most certainly heralded the approach of the one person Draco wanted to see the very least. Draco mentally fumbled for an excuse to be out before remembering that he was a Prefect, and was allowed out at that hour of night, most likely a key factor in why Blaise had asked him of all people to go on her little errand.  
  
"Looking for something, Malfoy?" Snape asked curtly.  
  
"Just checking the halls," Draco shrugged. "Figured I'd take one last round through the dungeons before I headed back to the common room, is all."  
  
"Good," Snape nodded. "I've had a few of our own house trying to sneak into my supply closet this week, Merlin only knows what their sick little minds were after. Well, then, goodnight, Malfoy."  
  
"Goodnight, Professor," Draco nodded, watching Snape disappear before heading back to the common room, feeling a little sick, and wondering how long it would take Snape to realize that a bottle of Dreamless Sleep was missing. 


End file.
